Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho, MSN, RN Army Surgeon General

I am grateful for the honor and privilege to serve as the Army’s 43^rd surgeon general and commander, U.S. Army Medical Command with soldiers and civilians, whose dedication makes our nation strong and our soldiers and families healthy and resilient. I am humbled to be the leader of the 5^th largest healthcare organization in the world — founded on Army values, warrior ethos and the sacred trust between patient and provider.

Medical Innovations

After protecting our nation, the Army has no greater mission than to care for our wounded, ill and injured soldiers and their families. Since 1775, Army Medicine has stood shoulder to shoulder with our fighting forces on the battlefield and their families at home. No other service can make that claim.

The past 10 years have presented Army Medicine not only with the challenge of supporting a two-front war, but also with the unique opportunity to build upon an organization made strong by collaborative partnerships and collective health. Our top priority is to maintain the fighting force by providing comprehensive healthcare and support services for our soldiers and families. To do this responsibly, we must remain ready and relevant in both our medical competencies and our soldier skills.

 Our expertise and medical innovations like tourniquets, pain management and early use of whole-blood products, borne from lessons learned in combat, are the standard of care for soldiers on the battlefield and civilians around the world. We will not waiver from our responsibility to provide the world’s finest healthcare to America’s sons and daughters serving our nation at home and abroad. Our combat experiences strengthen our capacity, resolve and commitment to identify and treat not only the wounds that we see, but also those that are invisible. 

Our unrelenting drive and expertise in providing world-class care to heal the warrior means more than 95% of our soldiers are surviving their wounds, recovering more quickly and returning to their units or transitioning to civilian life.  We are the Army’s medical home and America’s premier medical team — dedicated to saving lives and producing healthy and resilient people. 

Prevention and Health Promotion

As an organization, we have honed our diagnostic capabilities and continue to pursue early treatment and intervention options. Through early prevention with emphasis on health promotion, we strive to reduce the need for subsequent care and have initiated multiple programs and initiatives under the Army’s Campaign Plan and our own Medical Innovations Campaign Plan. 

Last year, we combined all major Army public health functions, specifically those under the former Veterinary Command and Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, to form the new U.S. Army Public Health Command. The consolidation creates a single proactive, accountable agency for public health and veterinary issues to focus on prevention, health promotion and wellness for our soldiers and military retirees, family members and Department of the Army civilians, whether deployed or at home.

Army Medicine is committed to using evidence-based practices to provide the most effective treatment to our patient population, especially our soldiers, many with significant acute and chronic pain-management issues evolving from more than 10 years of war. 

Foundation of Trust

Trust is the foundation of everything we do. Our soldiers trust we will get them from the battlefield to an aid station or hospital as quickly as possible. We train the finest medics, clinicians, nurses and support personnel — training that is unmatched in the civilian sector to give our soldier medics and the entire Army Medicine team the confidence and experience needed to save lives.

This trust extends to Army families who are confident they will receive the finest care, whether on post or in an Army Community-Based Medical Home. Our goals for the future are to continue developing collaborative partnerships with our soldiers and their families and refining our training and programs to ensure they get the best care and information possible on health and fitness, weight management, exercise and nutrition to produce patient-centered outcomes that improve the collective health of the Army family.